Some of the Smartest, Deadliest or Luckiest Con Women of All Time

Say what you want about con women, that they're greedy, sociopathic, or just straight up evil, but you have to admit — their conniving intellect is something we can sort of admire. It can't be easy creating lie after lie to trick victims into thinking you're a pregnant cancer victim who needs $10,000 wired into your bank account. I mean, I think I'm a pretty smart person and even I couldn't do that. I also have a conscious, so there's that. But these deadly con women, from notorious legends to ones that had Law & Order episodes written about them, prove that some women will stop at nothing to weasel thousands of dollars from gullible male victims. Below, seven female con artists who were masters at scamming stupid dudes.

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Kari Ferrell: The Hipster Grifter

Possibly one of the best known modern con women, Kari had conned her way across Salt Lake City to Brooklyn, setting her sights on bearded hipsters who loved throwing cash her way. She managed to even lie her way into a job at Vice. However, once editors realized she had a warrant out for her arrest in Utah, she was fired. Once New York tabloids got ahold of the story, they dubbed her the "hipster grifter."

According to reports, she used her aggressive sex appeal to woo suitors into giving her money. She would also lie to men about being pregnant and about having terminal cancer. After serving her sentence in Utah, she returned to New York in 2010 as a quasi-celebrity and became a professional blogger. However, these days she seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Maybe she got embarrassed by that Law & Order episode that was obviously about her.

Sarah Phillips: The ESPN Con Artist

This story is wild. So back in 2010, news broke that Sarah, a popular ESPN columnist, was conning people out of their Twitter accounts, using her lofty position as a way to gain trust from her victims. While working with her partner-in-crime, Nilesh Prasad, the two had plans to start a comedy sports site. They then reached out to popular social media personalities asking them if they wanted to write for them. Through these negotiations, Sarah would swindle people out of their passwords and then lock them out of their own accounts. After Deadspin broke the story, more victims came out and said they had sent money to Sarah to pay for advertising for the site and were not reimbursed when the site never launched. Sarah also later admitted that she used fake pictures to conceal her identity. After being fired from ESPN and deleting her Twitter account, she disappeared from the Interwebs.

Jody Harris: Australia's "Greatest Con Woman"

We know it seems a little hyperbolic to dub her "the greatest," but according to Aussie police who arrested her back in 2008, she was called the female Frank Abagnale (the famous con man who inspired the movie Catch Me If You Can). She pretended to be an air hostess, a doctor, a psychiatrist, and even a policewoman; committed more than 100 identity fraud offenses; stole more than $175,000 from her victims; and lived a life of luxury from her crimes.

One of her victims, who injured herself after falling and hitting her head, was conned out of thousands after Jody drove her to the hospital and then stole her personal information. Now that's just evil. She was finally jailed in 2006, but most likely is back on the street. Now you know to look out for her the next time you're in Australia.

Sanaa Derbas: The Ruthless Golddigger

Here's another one from Australia. Apparently, Aussie women are the best con artists. This mother-of-four stole almost $3 million from lonely dudes that she met on the Internet. She lied to her victims that she needed money to pay for her mother's funeral and to pay for her son's medical bills from having "swine flu." When she was arrested, Sanaa continued to prove she wasn't one to mess with by casually chewing gum in court and even pushing a journalist out of her way when he tried to get a photo of her. Tough chick.

Maggie Archer: The Tinder Scammer

This 20-year-old college student came up with an ingenious idea to ask her Tinder matches to send her $5 and "see what happens." She told Buzzfeed News she originally did it as a joke, but once the money started rolling it, she realized she had stumbled on an unlikely moneymaking venture. "It's really a foolproof plan, because I'm not actually promising anything, I just say 'see what happens,'" she said in 2017. Although nothing she did was that illegal, the scheme did get her banned permanently from Tinder.

Ryley Cruz: The Wonderbra Conwoman

We could sit here all day listing the many scams and monikers this British woman used while conning men and women out of thousands, but we don't have that kind of time. What she's best known for is pretending to be a lawyer, a million-dollar heiress, and even a Wonderbra model. But probably the most twisted thing about her is that, once her victims started to catch on to her, she would lie to them about having cancer. According to one of her victims, she would send overly elaborate texts full of outrageous lies like, "Am hooked up to drips, having chemotherapy. I am in such pain and can’t eat because of mouth ulcers. I am sick all the time because of all the medication they are pumping into me." In the end, she suckered about $81,000 out of 12 victims and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016.

Violet Charlesworth: The Victorian Scammer

But of course, con women didn't start scamming people just in the 21st century. Back in the early 1900s, this young woman scammed men with her looks and poise, telling lies that she was a wealthy heiress. After conning men with expensive gifts and diamonds, she mysteriously died in 1909 when her car spiraled over a cliff. However, investigators became suspicious when they never uncovered a body. After years of rumors, police finally found Violet alive and living under a different name. She was sentenced to five years in jail but only served three. Once she was released, she disappeared into history, but the famous cliff she "died" on is now called "Violet's Leap."